Even More 1972 Alt-Topps

World Series, All-Star, Leaders and Traded Cards

I'm not done yet. 

Here is what I imagine the World Series cards would look like in my Bizzaro Universe 1972 Topps set.

And the All Star cards.  I went with a Detroit Tigers color scheme because the 1971 classic was played at Tiger Stadium.  Hard to believe that 1971 is still the only season in which both starting pitchers were African-American. 

As a side-note, the Pirates fielded a line up that featured African Americans in every position also in 1971 for the first time in MLB history.  This wasn't done with any forethought of creating history as most of the regular line up featured black players. It was more of a happenstance due to injuries.

For the Leaders cards, I adopted the format Topps used in 1970 and 1971.

In the real 1972 set Topps began making late-series Traded cards. I mimicked that here using the original concept model, John Mayberry and another famous guy who wasn't in the original 1972 Topps Traded sub-set.

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I thought I'd try something different. Just wondering if anybody actually reads this all the way to the bottom. If you did, I'll take a few requests for this alternative set. If you have a player you'd like to see, base or sub-set, just post it in the comments before October 15th.  Then I'll do what I can to create those cards and make a final posting under the 1972 Alt-Topps heading by the end of the month.

More 1972 Alt-Topps

Managers, Rookies and Team Cards

Running with this same concept, I made these manager cards of two Hall of Famers who were  gone before the start of the 1973 season. Ted Williams was the Manager of the Year for the Senators in 1969. In 1972 the Senators moved to Texas and lost 100 games. It was Williams final year.  Meanwhile, Durocher was falling out of favor in Chicago.

I included the coaches on these cards like Topps would do in 1973 and 74 but it seemed a shame to reduce them to black and white on such a colorful set. You might notice that both 1959 MVPs are included in the coaches. Nellie Fox coached under Williams for the Senators and the Rangers. Ernie Banks was a coach for the Cubs the first few years after his retirement.

And of course, made the necessary rookie cards featuring what would be the 1972 Rookies of the Year.

And love 'em or hate 'em, here are the team cards.

1972 Alt-Topps

After being away for so long, I was undecided when (or if) I would start posting again.  But I do have quite a backlog of cards that I've already made. I also have quite a few ideas that still need to be fleshed out. What I do know is that I just don't have the time to post very often. So I'm going to try posting once a month.

Like I said before, "Cards That Never Were" was not a unique idea when I started this blog.  And lately there are even more blogs out there with similar content. Additionally there are Twitter, Facebook and other accounts devoted to the very same concept. Rather than just add more to the pile, I wanted to try something a bit different.

I came across some of Topps rejected concept cards on The Topps Archives and Keith Olbermann's Baseball Nerd and various other message boards and blogs.  Similar to what I did with the 1963 Fleer set, I decided to create an outline of what these mock-ups could be as a complete set. I will try to incorporate what we've all come to expect in a complete set: Rookie cards, All-Star cards, Leaders, World Series, etc.

For my first "Set", I think this was a prototype for the 1972 set. The designer used John Mayberry's 1971 card and put it inside his design. I decided to clean it up a bit and see what the cards might have looked like if Topps went with this design in 1972.

Here are few base cards, using the MVPs and Cy Young winners from 1972. Oddly, Three of the four were on new teams in 1972. Carlton had a card in a St. Louis uniform plus a late series "traded" card. For Dick Allen and Gaylord Perry, Topps just recycled old photos and tried to pass them off as their new team.

I tried to keep close to the color schemes that Topps used in 1972. If that Mayberry card was made using the color scheme the Astros used in 1972, it would look more like this:

In my next post I'll delve into this concept a little deeper.

Topps Bunt Cards That Never Were

I'm away on vacation, and got a strange text from my brother.  He told me to check out Topps Bunt today. What I saw was this:

I was totally blown away. I am shocked that anyone at Topps even knew this silly little blog existed. Much less create a digital insert set based on some of work that appeared here. 

They even utilized the same fonts I used for this blog on the backs of the cards:

Many of the cards Bunt created are similar to those in a final card Tribute Project which stemmed from an article I read in Sports Collector's Daily by Rich Klein. Here are a couple examples of Bunt's cards compared to cards I posted here:

To be quite honest, I always thought that if somebody from Topps ever stumbled across this blog, I would get a "cease and desist".  But this is way cooler. Thanks to the Bunt team!  You made an old collector very happy.

Even More For 1963 Fleer

In my previous post I pointed out some other types of cards that might have been included in the 1963 Fleer set had it not been cut short due to Topps' lawsuit. In my last post I added manager, rookie and team cards. But what set would be complete without leader cards?

Again I made one example from the American League and one from the National. Not a bad selection of players either. Five out of six are in the Hall of Fame now.  I tried to remain true to the Fleer design, but when I was done it looks reminiscent of Topps 1964 Leader cards.

Also missing from the initial 66 cards were World Series cards. Not necessarily essential, but usually a source of action shots in the 1960's when most cards were posed. Again, one card example featuring the National League team, and one for the American League.

 I decided to go with black and white photos out of necessity. While I could find a few color photos of the 1962 Series. Topps colorized their WS cards in the early 60's but revered to black and white in the later part of the decade.

One of my favorite subsets, the All Star cards, were notably missing from the 1963 Topps set. When Topps did  include All Stars, they weren't often the starting All Stars from the previous season. Often they were labeled "Sporting News All Star" but often that wasn't the case either.

In my examples, both players were Sporting News All Stars in 1963.  Luis Aparicio played starting shortstop in the 1962 All Star Games while a member of the White Sox. In 1963 he was the backup to Zoilo Versalles . Johnny Edwards was the Sporting News All Star in 1963 but was a backup to Ed Bailey of the Giants in the 1963 All Star game. Edwards took over for Bailey as the Reds catcher in 1961 when Bailey was traded to the Giants. Edwards, a three time All Star and two time Gold Glove catcher was succeeded by Johnny Bench in 1968.

In the Original 66 cards was the rookie card of Maury Wills. On that card, instead of the usual player drawing, Fleer put "N.L. Most Valuable Player '62". They replicated that for their 1998 Mickey Mantle insert card. I made a Rookie of the Year card for Ken Hubbs using the same design.

While most sets of this era didn't have "Award" cards, it seem like a logical extension. So here is the other R.O.Y. from 1962, Tom Tresh and the 1962 Cy Young Award winner, Don Drysdale.